Former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández convicted of drug trafficking by U.S. prosecutors

Former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández was found guilty in a Manhattan federal court of drug trafficking charges, according to the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York.

The embattled Honduran president was convicted on Friday of conspiring to import cocaine into the United States and possessing "destructive devices" including machine guns, according to SDNY USAO Damian Williams.

During their case, federal prosecutors accused the former Latin American president of running “narco-state,” and shielding drug traffickers instead of his constituents.

“Juan Orlando Hernández had every opportunity to be a force for good in his native Honduras,” Williams said in a release published by the SDNY USAO. “Instead, he chose to abuse his office and country for his own personal gain and partnered with some of the largest and most violent drug trafficking organizations in the world to transport tons of cocaine to the United States. It is my sincere hope that this conviction sends a message to all corrupt politicians who would consider a similar path: choose differently. 

As a result of his conviction, the 55-year-old former president will now spend life in prison although he continued to assert his innocence throughout the trial.

A Manhattan jury did not believe his defense case however, and jurors returned a guilty verdict after only two days of deliberations.

A former Honduran lawyer who served as President of the Honduran National Congress from 2010-2013, Orlando Hernández was given special permission in 2014 to take time away from his legislative duties to run his presidential campaign.

Orlando Hernández was elected to serve two consecutive terms as the Honduran president from 2014 to 2022. His campaign was ironically based on restoring the law to a landscape riddled with drug problems.

Orlando Hernández was previously seen as a Latin American partner the U.S. could count on,

During his presidency, the U.S. gave Honduras more than $50m in anti-trafficking funding, and millions more in military aid.

In 2019, former President Donald Trump thanked Orlando Hernández for “working with the United States very closely.” Hernández also thanked the United States "for the support they have given us in the firm fight against drug trafficking".

Despite those once good relations, things took a turn in July 2021 when the U.S State Dept. revoked Orlando Hernández’s visa, citing his purported involvement in corruption and the illegal drug trade.

According to federal prosecutors, the lawyer turned politician conspired with “some of the world's most prolific narcotics traffickers to build a corrupt and brutally violent empire based on the illegal trafficking of tons of cocaine to the United States.”

Just three months after relinquishing power, the former president was extradited to Manhattan and charged in April 2022 by the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York.

“Throughout his time in office, [Orlando] Hernandez publicly promoted legislation and the efforts he purported to undertake in support of anti-narcotics measures in Honduras,” the SDNY said. “ At the same time, he protected and enriched the drug traffickers in his inner circle and those who provided him with cocaine-fueled bribes that allowed him to obtain and stay in power in Honduras.” 

Citing examples, the SDNY said that Orlando Hernández abused his executive power by selectively upholding extraditions of specific drug traffickers who threatened his power while simultaneously protecting  others who paid him.

Orlando Hernández and “his co-conspirators abused Honduran institutions, including the Honduran National Police and Honduran Army, to protect and grow their conspiracy,” the SDNY wrote in the release. 

“Among other things, members of the conspiracy used heavily armed Honduran National Police officers to protect their cocaine loads as they transited through Honduras. Members of the conspiracy also turned to violence and murder to protect and grow their drug trafficking enterprise, attacking, and murdering rival traffickers and those who threatened their grip on the Honduran cocaine trade.”

According to federal prosecutors, Orlando Hernández had connections with drug traffickers as far back as 2004, long before his political career was established.

They said drug traffickers paid him millions to look the other way while cocaine was trafficked from Venezuela and Colombia through Honduras to the United States.

Orlando Hernández adamantly denied the allegations throughout the trial, insisting he was a “victim of a vendetta and a conspiracy by organized crime and political enemies.”

“I had a policy against all those people because I could not stand them,” Hernández said of drug traffickers he said while testifying. “They did a lot of damage in the country.”

The former president is currently being held at a Brooklyn detention center since his extradition. 

Williams said that the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Manhattan “will stop at nothing to investigate and prosecute those responsible for sending poison to this community, no matter their status or political power.”